Raybel into the dry dock
November 2020
Our hearty volunteers were mustered to get Raybel into the dry dock under the supervision of shipwright Tim Goldsack – a critical task in the restoration story which had been months in the planning and preparation.
After the clearance of the dry dock in June and July, much of the summer and early autumn were taken up with re-fitting and carrying out final repairs. Two reconditioned 4 inch valves were fitted, and strengthened all round with concrete. The other two sump boxes were filled with concrete; the blocks were checked and levelled; the timber doors of the dry dock removed and remote handles fitted to the valves.
Meanwhile, on the last day of September we used a crane to remove the gear from Raybel. The mast, sprit, leeboards, windless and winches were lifted off and placed on metal trestles and pallets on the grassy area by the museum. These were covered with tarpaulins and will be worked on over the course of the next year.
The final prep task was the muckiest and most frustrating. Without enough depth of water over the dry dock’s blocks the whole project would have been in jeopardy, causing us no little anxiety over the weeks of October. A berth had to be prepared at the deepest part of the wharf and several tons of scrap metal retrieved from the creek (to be recycled). The dry dock was then sunk to check there was enough height above the blocks to get Raybel in and, by the mid November high tide, a laser level showed that we did have enough water. The dock was lying level to within 4 inches in both planes.
On the day, with the help of volunteers, 20mm lightweight polypropylene ropes were rigged on all quarters and fed around the dry dock so that Raybel could be hauled in on the high tide at 12.30. We were aware that the tides that week would be the highest until next March, so it was important that we get Raybel in and avoid a 6-month delay. There was a 20-knot wind blowing on the nose, but Tim was confident it could be handled.
Using some brief bursts of engine power astern and lots of people on the ropes, Raybel was manoeuvred into the dock and secured to the bollards.The length of the dry dock is 100 feet against Raybel’s 89 feet but the front and back is angled to make it more boat like – so It’s a tight fit with just 12 inches on one side and about 4 feet on the extended side of the drydock. These angled sections are called the swims and they restrict the useable length. The position of the rudder was critical. Normally a rudder would be removed before entering a drydock but Raybel’s stern has been augmented with a captive pintle which will have to be cut through before the rudder can be lifted off. This meant the rudder had to be positioned approximately 45° to starboard, so as to drop between the swim and the access stairs in the dry dock.
There was then an anxious two hour wait to see how Raybel settled as the tide went down. Eventually any movement stopped, and we could assess her position. Raybel is just 15 inches from the swim at the front, and the rudder had about 8 inches clearance at the back. There was an overhang at the front which was propped up with 4 inch timbers and wedges.
With her settled in, there was a huge sense of achievement that this critical part of the process had been achieved and Clive from the museum cracked open a bottle of something fizzy and alcoholic served in plastic champagne flutes and all socially distanced.The drydock didn’t drain completely but the valves were closed using the remote handles and the team set to with pumps to remove the water and several inches of river mud. It was then possible to see Raybel’s bottom for the first time in 8 years – generally very good nick, flat and fair, with a few sheathing planks missing (we know we left one in the mud at Maylandsea) and sitting nicely and dead parallel in the dry dock.
The wind didn’t stop on Tuesday 17 so we called the team together on the Wednesday 18 and hauled the dry dock and Raybel back to her berth outside the sailing Barge Museum. Now considerably higher, we had to rig a metal gangplank up to Raybel and a ladder down into the dry dock.
The rest of the mud was slooshed out, though not before our cheap 2-inch diesel pump died for the second time in its miserable year long life. A sturdy 110v electric pump took over the last of the work and the 2-inch (annoyingly just out of warranty) was to be returned to the shop for repair or oblivion.
As a postscript, on Thursday 19 November there was a 1.2-meter tidal surge which put the whole wharf area under water with a foot of water under the museum, causing us to review storage arrangements under there. It was higher than our February 10th event. Just Mother Nature reminding us that she will have her way whatever.
